UBC VP External, Stephen Owen (former Vancouver Quadra MP), and Associate Vice President Campus & Community Planning, Nancy Knight, have agreed to meet with a representative group of parents from the UBC/Dunbar Schools involved in the VSB facilities review. The meeting will take place Friday, January 25th at the recently opened community centre in Hawthorn Place at UBC.

Please note that this meeting involves a maximum of two representatives from each of the PACs in the UBC/Dunbar area. The meeting information is posted here as a service. This is not an announcement of a general meeting.

Parents attending the meeting are looking forward to UBC being willing to co-operatively work with parents to find a solution to our school issues. Parents look forward to the immediate need for new schools at UBC to be met without selling off successful schools.

See also:
Professor Toope Replies
Open Letter to Professor Toope

School problem Vancouver-wide

Valerie Hamilton critiques opponents of selling off schools.Friday, January 18, 2008

To the editor:

Re: “Dunbar first up for VSB scrutiny,” Jan. 16.

It is a shame that Adlai Fisher thinks that closing Queen Elizabeth Annex should have nothing to do with a new school at UBC. The Vancouver School Board is facing a dilemma right now.

Parents at UBC, Yaletown and Fraserlands do not have the luxury of sending their students to the neighbourhood school. The Ministry of Education will not allow any new schools to open as long as there are so many empty seats in other Vancouver schools.

None of this should be coming as a surprise. I was at a meeting at UHill secondary several years ago when the National Research Council building was suggested as a site for a new school.

Parents cannot look at their schools in isolation. They are part of the whole problem in Vancouver and should try to be creative and helpful in coming up with solutions instead of lashing out at the VSB before the public meetings have even begun.

Valerie L. Hamilton,

Vancouver